


Zombies, Run!

by supercalvin



Series: 13 Nights of Halloween [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, M/M, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 23:16:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2485838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s the zombie apocalypse. Merlin and Arthur are runners for Camelot Township.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zombies, Run!

“God damn it!”

“Pull the zombies in, you asshole!”

“It’s harder than it looks! We’ve been fighting them off for months, _not grabbing them_!”

“Gaius wants them in and cured by _yesterday_. Move your ass!”

“Shit!”

“What the fuck are you doing!”

“They won’t let go!”

“Let go already, you fucking zomb!”

“Fine, pull them in together!”

“Give me the net. Round them to two of them up together.”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three…”

“PULL!”

10 Months Earlier

“Come on, Merlin. Just a little bit farther. Lazy sod, pick up the pace.”

Arthur’s words were harsh, but his voice was wrecked. He was shining with sweat, his clothes sodden and his arm covered in blood from where he had snagged it on barbed wire.

“Arthur, stop!” Merlin demanded, but he was just being hefted up, his arm around Arthur’s shoulder, and dragged faster.

“Don’t have time, they’re right behind us.” Arthur panted, and he was right. The zombies were right behind them. Merlin knew that all too well. He could hear their moans and the soft shuffle of ragged limbs.

“Arthur.” Merlin was bleeding too much, his head was spinning. Arthur had to stop, Merlin couldn’t-

Arthur closed a door and set Merlin down onto the ground of what looked like an old supply closet. Of course, there were no supplies in it. The end of the world tended to jack-up the number of thieves.

Arthur’s fingers were on Merlin’s cheeks, checking the heat (or lack of it) in his forehead. “Merlin? Come on. Just a little bit farther and then we can rest.”

“Arthur.” Merlin mumbled out again, trying to tell him. Trying to warn him. Of something. What was that again?

“We’ll wait for the zombies to pass and then we’ll make a run for it.”

“Arthur…”

They had been gathering samples from the bitten, the poison which infected people. Gaius and Merlin were going to start working on an antidote for the zombies. They were only experimenting at the moment and they had needed the poison in order to find the antidote. Merlin and Arthur had gone out of the barricaded township, but instead of avoiding the zombies, they had been searching for them. And _oh_ they had found them alright. The syringes that Merlin had managed to fill with zombie blood were in Arthur’s pack.

“Bitten.” Merlin managed to choke out. His blood was pumping too fast, spreading the poison all over his body. But for the life of him he couldn’t keep his heart rate down.

“What?” Arthur blanched. He looked down and saw that Merlin’s left forearm was bleeding, a huge chunk of flesh removed. “ _Merlin_.” His name was a keen, one that Merlin had never wanted to hear from Arthur.

“It’s ‘kay.” Merlin slurred. “Gaius can finish the research.”

“ _Merlin_.” Arthur sounded angry now, and Merlin knew why. They had promised that they would get out of this whole stupid zombie apocalypse together. They had looked at each other and said: Damn it all to Hell, if the world is ending I have to have you now, and if it doesn’t end, I’m keeping you until it does.

“Come on, we got to get you to Gaius. He’ll figure out a cure. Slow down the process. _Something_.”

Merlin shook his head. He and Gaius weren’t even close to an antidote. They needed the zombie blood so that they could _start_ the research. Who knew how long that would take? Merlin only had an hour at the most. Minutes at the least.

“Arthur, you promised.” Merlin reminded him.

“No.” Arthur grabbed Merlin’s shirt and pressed closer to him, as if the warmth in Arthur’s body would make the ice in Merlin’s melt. It wouldn’t. “I won’t. I won’t do it. Not to you Merlin. I can’t.”

“We said if we ever got bit-”

“Fuck that.” Arthur snapped, taking Merlin’s face in his hands and kissing him soundly. Desperately, as if this would be the last time. Merlin realized it was, and he started to cry, unable to help himself as sobs rose up out of his chest.

“Sh, Merlin. Sh…” Arthur pet Merlin’s hair, running a soft pattern into his neck where his neckerchief didn’t cover.

“You’re a dollophead.” Merlin managed to choke out. His chest felt like it was contracting in on itself and his limbs felt like they couldn’t move. What he meant to say was ‘I love you, dollophead.’ Close enough.

Arthur seemed to understand, “And you’re an idiot.” The smile didn’t make it to his eyes.

Arthur was staring at him as if he was cataloguing every move Merlin made. Like he was taking in his fill before Merlin wasn’t himself anymore. Then something like an idea flashed through his eyes and he was quickly rummaging through his pack. Merlin saw him take out a sharpie and three of the four syringes. Arthur was writing something on a piece of cloth. Where had that come from? Merlin couldn’t even read what he was writing, his vision was already blurring. Time passed, Merlin didn’t know how much. He couldn’t feel most of his body anymore.

“Arthur?” He asked confused. Arthur was in his line of sight again, though he looked slightly blurry. “Wha’ goin’-?”

Arthur pressed a kiss to Merlin’s lips. Merlin could barely feel the warmth anymore.

“Together, remember?” Arthur whispered and then he plunged the syringe into his own neck.

“So what’s the story, eh?” Someone asked. “With these ones?”

An elderly voice spoke up. “I used to know them. They were out on a special run for blood. He got bit.”

“Yeah? So what happened to the other? This one’s not even bitten.”

There was a long pause.

“I can only assume…he used one of the syringes.”

“Syringes?” There was a rustle of fabric and then the young voice was reading something. “’Syringes in pack. Find the cure. Then find us. M and A’ What the hell does that mean?”

“You saw them out there, didn’t you?” The elderly voice snapped in an angry tone.

Cautiously the younger one said, “Yeah. They stuck to each other like glue. Never seen that in a zomb before. They wouldn’t be separated. We had a Hell of a time getting them in here for the cure.”

“They were like that before too.” The elderly voice sounded a mix of amused and forlorn. “Wouldn’t leave each other’s side.”

Suddenly, Merlin’s felt conscious. He had been able to hear, but then he felt like he could control his body and his senses. He blinked open his eyes and made a moan. Not like the ones he had made before, but a _human_ moan.

“Merlin.” Gaius was hovered over his face. “Merlin, my boy.”

“Cure?” Merlin asked, still barely able to move his mouth. Gaius nodded.

“Yes. Arthur’s fine too.” Gaius pointed to something and Merlin turned his head to see the cot next to his. Arthur was pale and covered in dirt, but he had color in his skin and IVs in his arms. Merlin closed his eyes and smiled, feeling hot tears run down the side of his face for the first time since he was bitten.

“Dollophead.” Merlin managed to say before he fell asleep again. Later, when both of them were able to sit up and move, Arthur would call him an idiot and swore that, given a choice, he would have done it all over again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I bought the [Zombies, Run!](https://www.zombiesrungame.com/) app for when I go running and it was the best $3.99 I have ever spent. It’s basically a podcast that tells you there are zombies behind you when you need to pick up pace. My motivation to run goes up 100% when I don’t want to be eaten.


End file.
